"It is hoped that this volume will enable communities and people to become more effective stakeholders and participants in the governance of innovation and economic activities in relation to the associated risks to humans and the planet," said EEA executive director Prof Jacqueline McGlade.

Precautionary principle

In its conclusion, the report's authors highlighted a number of areas that they felt could lead to a more effective and efficient decision-making process, adding that precautionary measures did not necessarily "stifle innovation" but could support it.

"Not only has the body of knowledge become richer since 2001, but the number of stakeholders involved in decision-making has become larger and more diverse.

"There has also been increasing attention to communicating scientific uncertainty, especially in the fields of climate change, food safety and emerging risk.

But they observed that there had been less progress in some areas: "Many of the political and scientific 'bureaucratic silos' still remain, despite frequent calls for policy integration and interdepartmental co-operation.

"It is therefore very important that large-scale emerging technologies... apply the precautionary principle based on the experiences and lessons learned."

They added that increases in scientific knowledge had shown that the links between stressors and harm were more complex than was previously thought.

"Much of the harm described in [the reports], such as cancers or species decline, is caused by several co-causal factors acting independently or together.

They also said that research had a tendency to focus on well documented hazards rather than investing more time and resources improving the scientific knowledge of emerging threats.

"Environmental and health research overly focuses on well-know rather than unknown hazards at the expense of emerging issues and their potential impacts," they concluded.

"Funding more holistic systems science would also help achieve a greater integration among the different branches of science and counteract problems such as: short-term interest outcompeting long-term vision; competition replacing co-operation ; fragmentation of information and knowledge.